[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 29 (Friday, February 11, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 6976-6978]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-3282]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[I.D. 020200B]


Western Pacific Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting; public scoping hearing; public 
hearing.

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SUMMARY: The Western Pacific Fishery Council's (Council) will hold its 
73rd meeting of its Scientific and Statistical

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Committee (SSC) in Honolulu, HI. Also, public scoping hearings will be 
held on the intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 
for the Fishery Management Plan for the Precious Corals Fisheries of 
the Western Pacific Region (Precious Corals FMP).
    The Council also announces its intention to develop amendments to 
the Fishery Management Plan for Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish 
Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region (Bottomfish and Seamount 
Groundfish FMP), Fishery Management Plan for Crustacean Fisheries of 
the Western Pacific Region (Crustaceans FMP), and Fishery Management 
Plan for the Precious Corals FMP.

DATES: The SSC meeting will be held on February 22, 2000, from 9:00 
a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and on February 23-24, 2000, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 
p.m.

ADDRESSES: The 73rd SSC meeting will be held at the Council 
office conference room, 1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 
96813.
    Council address: Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, 1164 
Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 96813.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director, 
Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, telephone: 808-522-8220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SSC will discuss and may make 
recommendations to the Council on the agenda items listed here. The 
order in which agenda items will be addressed is subject to change.

8:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 22, 2000

A. Electronic logbooks

B. Fisheries Data Coordinating Committee--Data Workshop 2000

C. Status of the stocks

    1. Bottomfish fishery
    2. Crustaceans fishery
    a. Harvest Guideline
    3. Precious corals fishery
    4. Location of the catch

D. Draft Coral Reef Ecosystem Fishery Management Plan/Preliminary Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)

    1. Review of Council's preferred alternative
    a. Fishing permit and reporting
    b. Restrictions of gear and methods
    c. Marine Protected Areas
    d. Framework provisions
    e. Process for Plan Team (PT) coordination
    2. Review of comments from region-wide public meetings
    3. Federal initiatives
    a. Congressional coral reef bills
    b. U.S. Coral Reef Task Force action plan
    4. Agency research plans for coral reefs
    a. Federal (NMFS, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS))
    b. State/territories/Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 
(CNMI)

E. Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI)

    1. Concerns regarding existing fisheries
    a. Status of monk seals
    b. Marine Mammal Commission
    c. Monk Seal Recovery Team
    d. ECOSIM (ecological simulation) model
    e. Agencies (NMFS, Coral Reef Task Force, FWS, Department of Land 
and Natural Resources, U.S. Navy/U.S. Coast Guard)
    2. Hawaii advisory body recommendations
    a. Coral Reef Ecosystem PT
    b. Ecosystem & Habitat Advisory Panel (AP)
    c. Bottomfish PT/AP
    d. Crustaceans AP/AP
    e. Precious Corals PT/AP
    3. Lawsuit to close lobster and bottomfish fisheries

8:30 a.m. Wednesday, February 23, 2000

F. Fishery Management Plan for the Pelagic Fisheries of the Western 
Pacific Region (Pelagics FMP) Issues

    1. 3rd & 4th quarter 1999 Hawaii and American Samoa longline 
fishery report
    2. American Samoa
    a. Framework measure
    b. Marine Conservation Plan
    3. Shark management
    a. Shark catch and disposition in 1999 in Hawaii longline fishery
    b. Blue shark stock assessment
    c. Report of cultural study of sharks and shark finning in the 
western Pacific Region
    d. National Plan of Action--Sharks
    e. Pelagics FMP amendment for shark management
    f. Ocean Wildlife Campaign's concern for blue sharks
    4. Seabird interactions in the Hawaii longline fishery
    a. Status of amendment
    b. Short-tailed albatross biological opinion
    c. National Plan of Action--seabirds
    5. Turtle management
    a. Imposition of longline closed area north of Hawaii
    b. Status of the lawsuit
    6. Pacific Fishery Management Council's Highly Migratory Species 
Fishery Management Plan
    7. Stock assessment of pelagic management unit species
    8. International
    a. Multilateral High Level Conference 6
    b. International Pelagic Shark Workshop
    c. Kiribati-Spain fishing agreement
    d. National Plan of Action--fishing capacity
    9. Recreational Fisheries Data Task Force

8:30 a.m. Thursday, February 24, 2000

G. Draft Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP/NWHI Fishery Concerns (conclude 
discussion and recommendations)

H. Precious corals fishery

    1. Status of framework amendment

Review of Public Scoping Comments on EIS Alternatives

    1. Bottomfish FMP
    2. Crustaceans FMP
    3. Precious corals FMP
    4. Public scoping hearing on precious corals EIS alternatives
    The EIS will discuss the impacts of potential precious coral 
harvest on the human environment and consider alternatives for a number 
of management measures. Alternatives will be assessed for impacts on 
essential fish habitat, target and non-target species of fish, 
discarded fish, marine mammals (Hawaiian monk seals and cetaceans), and 
other protected species present in the western Pacific ecosystem. In 
addition, the environmental consequences section will contain an 
analysis of socio-economic impacts of the fishery on the following 
groups of individuals: (1) Those who participate in harvesting the 
fishery resources and other living marine resources; (2) those who 
process and market the fish and fish products; (3) those who are 
involved in allied support industries; (4) those who consume fish 
products; (5) those who rely on living marine resources in the 
management area, either for subsistence needs or for recreational 
benefits; (6) those who benefit from non-consumptive uses of living 
marine resources; (7) those involved in managing and monitoring 
fisheries; and (8) fishing communities.

J. Addition of CNMI and Unincorporated Islands/Atolls to Bottomfish, 
Crustaceans, and Precious Corals FMPs

    1. Review of status
    2. Public scoping hearing
    The Council intends to develop amendments to the Bottomfish FMP, 
Crustaceans FMP, and Precious Coral FMP which will consider a range of

[[Page 6978]]

alternatives and impacts for management of bottomfish, crustacean and 
precious coral fisheries in the Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIAs) and 
CNMI. The PRIAs are defined as Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Wake 
Island, Midway Island, Palmyra Atoll, Kingman Reef, and Johnston Atoll.
    The Council is evaluating the need to amend the bottomfish, 
crustacean and precious corals FMPs to better achieve the management 
objectives of these FMPs. Currently, no Federal regulations are in 
place to manage the bottomfish, crustacean and precious coral fishery 
resources in the EEZ waters surrounding the CNMI. There are also no 
Federal regulations for the bottomfish and crustacean fisheries for the 
EEZ waters surrounding the Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIAs). The 
amendments will consider a wide range of management alternatives to 
address data shortfalls and possible impacts from the bottomfish, 
crustacean, and precious coral fisheries in the PRIAs and the CNMI. The 
Council seeks to solicit public comment and input on a wide range of 
management alternatives including, but not limited to, the following: 
Federal permit and data reporting requirements; limited access; vessel 
monitoring systems; observer program; closed season; closed areas; gear 
restrictions; size limits; catch quotas; and prohibitions on the use of 
destructive fishing techniques, including the use of explosives, 
poisons, bottomset gill-nets, bottom trawls, and tangle nets.

K. Limited Entry Permits for Community Demonstration Projects

L. Other business

    Although non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda may come 
before the SSC for discussion, those issues may not be the subject of 
formal SSC action during this meeting. SSC action will be restricted to 
those issues specifically listed in this document and any issue arising 
after publication of this document that requires emergency action under 
section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act, provided the public has been notified of the Council's 
intent to take final action to address the emergency.

Special Accommodations

    This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Kitty M. Simonds, 808-522-8220 (voice) or 808-
522-8226 (fax), at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

    Authority: 1801 et seq.

    Dated: February 8, 2000.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 00-3282 Filed 2-10-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F